21st Century Skills

Digital age and literacy
The only academic class taught in the vocational school that I work in is social studies so there is not a lot of scientific literacy’s being taught. But, the social studies class does use web casting daily embedded into their lecture. The teachers in this class do teach economics in this country as well as others.
There is beginning to be a small increase in our Hispanic population. We do not recognize this in the way of projects, foods or social organizations. There is not a picture in the building that represents any other ethnic background but Caucasian. Perhaps this is an area I can be effective with the staff and students because of my background working with vast amounts of other cultures in a hospital setting.
Unfortunately in the short time I have been in the school the technology department has decreased to a mere few that are not as talented as previous employees. Most have moved on for more pay to other schools. I hope this improves.

Effective communication
We have a mutual respect for each others expertise in fields of education but since we all teach our area of expertise from tenth to twelfth grade there is no horizontal or vertical shared information academically as far as curriculum.
We do collaborate well as far as giving to the community. I do health fairs and blood drives. The carpentry and masonry areas fix up parks and fields. Culinary arts does a lot with food pantries and we all come out to support each others events. This is both student and staff collaboration.

Inventive thinking
All of our students are taught to adapt to changing situations, manage complex thinking and be self directed. Especially in the field of nursing. I cannot be everywhere all the time. The students must learn to adapt to the condition of a patient changing as well as the needs of the unit.
All though I would not want them to risk take on the clinical unit. I do need them to use a higher order of thinking and reasoning for the safety of the patients.
There is so much change in the administration in the school where I teach staff needs to be adaptive and creative to manage there classroom safely and efficiency.

High Productivity
“Down sizing” has got to be the mantra of the work world. Fewer employees need to do more work. Therefore student must be taught to organize and prioritize. A nurse cannot function efficiently if she does not take care of the most critical situations first and delegate menial tasks to others.
Technology has been a great tool to us in health care as far as figuring out intravenous and medication calculations, the delivery of pharmaceuticals and easing documentation of patients.